Games of chance are well known activities whose outcomes are strongly influenced by randomizing devices and upon which contestants may wager money as they forecast outcomes. Common randomizing devices include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, prize wheels, and numbered balls drawn from containers. Games of chance have been played throughout all of human history and are considered to be a popular pastime by many. Players of games of chance are attracted to new and exciting methods of game play as well as new and exciting randomizing devices. For this reason, the gaming industry is continuously developing new games and new randomizing devices to maintain player interest and attract new players.
Games of chance that include money wagers are typically regulated by governing authorities. These governing authorities enforce laws and regulations that are enacted to curtail certain kinds of games as well as certain kinds of randomizing devices. For example, in some jurisdictions, the use of dice or roulette wheels to resolve a game outcome, i.e., as the randomizing device, has been curtailed while other randomizing devices such as playing cards are permitted. Consequently, randomizing devices that use playing cards are more frequently utilized to resolve outcomes in games of chance played for money.
It is important that randomizing devices operate in a truly random manner to ensure integrity of the games with which they are used. This ensures that the odds associated with particular wagers are accurate and also helps minimize the potential for cheating. As is known, randomizing devices that involve a rotating wheel can exhibit patterns over time with a bias for certain stopping points that occur more frequently than others. This is known to result from the rotary components developing wear patterns that can cause biases for certain stopping points. This condition is undesirable and can cost casinos significant revenue each year as it changes the odds of the game and allows a player of the game to anticipate a particular outcome.
Therefore, there is a desire within the gaming industry to develop new and interesting methods of game play and randomizing devices which utilize playing cards in unique and interesting ways and have longer durability and accuracy.